Following the claims that there were apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, Lourdes has developed into a major place of Christian pilgrimage. The Basilica of the Rosary, designed in a Byzantine-influenced Romanesque style, was built between 1883 and 1889 to replace the original chapel on the site of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The gilded crown and cross surmounting the dome.
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